~ Chapter Seventeen ~

Nick leaned against the wall of the lobby and stared out through the floor length windows at the bicyclists and other bohemian "free sprits" heading up and down the sidewalk.  Anyone who bicycled up and down the steep hills of Seattle was officially nuts in his book.  There must be reported cases of bicyclists clad in black spandex flying down the hill and into Elliot Bay. 

The  door back into the "working" part of the building opened again.  It was controlled by magnetic security ID cards worn by the staff and every time it opened or closed, it sounded as if the building was preparing for a nuclear shutdown.  Pharmaceutical research was a very serious business.  They weren't about to let just anyone come in off the street and get into the building. 

This time the door opened to let out a tall technician, still wearing his white lab coat.  He disappeared out the glass front doors, unlocked his bike from where it was chained to the lamppost outside, and rode off down the street, his coat flapping in the breeze.

The door unlocked again and all thoughts of bicyclists, whether they be in spandex or lab coats, fled from Nick's mind.  Stacy always moved like she knew exactly where she was going, she just wasn't quite sure why she was going there.  As in the typical intellectual stereotype, part of her mind always seemed to be preoccupied with some larger problem.  Her hair was starting to slip out of the clip holding it in a knot on the back of her head, and her shirttail was hanging out from beneath her gray sweater. 

"Hey."  Nick stepped away from the wall and into her path.

Stacy looked up from the canvas bag she was pawing through, then jumped a good two inches off the tiled floor.  "Oh my God!  What are you doing here?"  Then again, sometimes, all her mind was preoccupied.

Nick shrugged.  "Nothin'.  You're on lunch, right?"  What he really felt like doing was kissing her, but he had a sneaking suspicion that would be moving a little too quick.  Their relationship hadn't quite reached the stage of kissing in public yet.

"Yes."  Stacy gave up on searching.  "How did you know that?"

Nick tapped the side of his head.  "Good memory."  That and he could easily pull up pretty much any detail of any conversation the two of them had ever had in the last two weeks without even having to think about it.  He reached in front of Stacy and shoved the door open.  "Where're we going?"

"This way."  She grabbed him by the hand and started down the street at three times the speed Nick was moving at. 

"I discovered something this last week."  Stacy  said in all seriousness when Nick regained his balance and caught up to her.

"Did you?"  Nick wasn't completely focused on the conversation.  More than half his brain was occupied with the fact that she still hadn't let go of his hand. 

"Yep."  The light turned green and they started across the crosswalk.  "If you listen to the game on the radio while you're watching it on TV, you can actually follow along fairly well."

Nick still couldn't imagine not being aware of every little detail occurring on the field during a game, but he was kind of happy she had actually watched the road trip.  It had been a good trip for Nick.  He had officially snapped out of his hitting slump while in Anaheim.  He had been 3 for 4 in the first game with a double,  and by the time the trip had ended in Arlington, Texas, Nick's home run tally had gone up by two and his batting average was heading back up to the .200's. 

"And I have one question."  Stacy stopped walking and turned around until she was facing Nick.  "Who's Bob Carter?  Because he comes up in the conversation quite often when they're discussing you."

Nick sighed.  It never failed.  "He's my dad."

Stacy let the subject drop while she studied the menu and ordered at the little sidewalk cafe/deli. "Right, then..."  She said after they ordered.  " That would make sense.  So he played baseball?  Let's sit outside." 

"Yeah, he played."  Nick obediently followed her out to the metal tables and chairs set up along the sidewalk.  To just say ‘he played' was a bit of an understatement.  Bob Carter was in the Hall of Fame, which right there was enough to tell you he did more than just ‘play'.  However, Nick wasn't going to go into that if he didn't have to.  "It's cold out here."

"It is not."  Stacy shook her head.  "The sun's out.  I'm the one accustomed to equatorial temperatures.  If I'm not cold, then you certainly can't be."

The sun might have been out, but it was still cold, unless you were sitting directly in the sunlight.  It always seemed as if the wind was blowing in directly off the waterfront.  Nick had survived  so far by living in sweatshirts and layers.  He wasn't about to argue with Stacy, however.  It would do no good.  She was always right, and even if she wasn't, she presented her argument in such logical fashion that Nick ended up believing she was right anyway.  Nick pulled the sleeves of his sweatshirt down over his hands. 

"Oh... I know what else."  Stacy said around her sandwich.  "The game tonight?  Felicia called me earlier today, and she's not feeling well, so I'm going to her place and watching it with her there."  Her gray eyes regarded Nick for a long moment, before she smiled.  "You should see yourself.  Don't let it completely ruin your day."

Nick drew in a deep breath.  "No, it's okay.  Um, it's just that... we're not even in town a week, ya know?  I was just kind of hoping I'd get to spend more time with you.  Who's Felicia?"  He added, the rest of the conversation finally sinking in. 

"Oh, what's the one pitcher's name?"  Stacy waited expectantly for Nick to give it to her.

Nick turned his palms upward.  "Gonna have to give me a little more info than that."

"The strange one... turns cartwheels in the outfield before the game?"

Nick laughed.  "Well, that's either Brian or AJ, and since Brian's not a pitcher..."

"AJ McLean - that's him."  Stacy nodded in affirmation.

"AJ's got a girl?"  Nick was surprised to hear that one.  When the subject of girlfriends came up in the clubhouse, as if often did when Howie and Brian were around, AJ had never been one in the middle of it.  Nick had never realized that before, but when he thought about it, AJ didn't discuss his personal life at all. 

"Well, they're together."  Stacy shrugged.  "I'm not sure about details or anything."  She stared down at the wrought metal table, then looked up again, smiling.  "Nick?"

"What?"  Nick responded cautiously.  She was smiling, which meant she was probably about to poke fun at him for  something.  Nick had fallen in love with her smile the first time he had seen it.  It made her look like a little girl. 

"I'll beat you home, by the time you get out of the clubhouse.  Why don't you come over to my place afterwards, okay?"

That was possibly the best idea Nick had heard in days.

~*~

Kevin relaxed against the bench in the bullpen.  Back-up catcher Lenny Krazelton was starting tonight against the opposing team's left handed pitcher and Kevin was spending the game in the bullpen, not as much for the sake of warming up pitchers as he was for the entertainment.  Brian was all fine and well for dugout entertainment, but he couldn't even begin to compare to AJ McLean.  In the first two innings, AJ had managed not only to get one of the fans sitting above them to throw AJ his nachos, he had also attached several sunflower  seeds to his face, by carefully opening the shells partway, then pinching them onto his face.  That, Kevin would be the first to admit, was something even Brian hadn't tried.

"So,"  AJ sat down cross-legged on the bench next to Kevin.  Kevin wondered briefly if it hurt to sit cross-legged while wearing cleats.  AJ didn't seem to notice, or even care.  "What made you come brave the perils of the ‘pen?  Was it the blow by blow description of how Howie seduced his latest woman, one too many mentions of Nick's new girl, who according to him, must be the greatest thing since microwave bacon, or was it just for the pleasure of my company?"

Kevin laughed.  "All of the above."  Since returning from their roadtrip, AJ's strange mood seemed to have disappeared, and now he was back in his usual form. 

"How would you pitch that guy?"  Kevin wondered, watching as the  Twin's designated hitter just missed another pitch,  sending it straight back at the screen behind home plate. 

"What guy?"  AJ said in confusion, looking around the bullpen, as if expecting to see someone with a bat.

"The one at the plate."  Kevin pointed out dryly.  The DH connected on the next pitch, sending it fair into the left field corner on two bounces, where it smacked into the wall with enough force that the sound was heard in the bullpen.

AJ  sat calmly for a moment.  "Well, apparently I wouldn't throw him that last pitch, would I?  Geez."  He dropped his paper Gatorade cup on the ground and leaned down to pick it up, still talking.  "I'd pitch him hard inside."  He straightened back up with the crumpled cup in his hand.  "Nine times out of ten, he couldn't get it past third."

Kevin stared at AJ for a moment, before his gaze traveled over to the rest of the bullpen, who had dissolved in fits of laughter.  "What is their problem?"

"You mean other than they have a combined IQ of 14?"

"Okay..."  Kevin ignored the gigglefest and returned to the idea of pitching the Twin's DH.  Strategy was one of his favorite subjects.  And AJ was right, which surprised Kevin even more than three days ago when Nick had hit the game winning home run.   Behind the facade of craziness, AJ knew what he was doing. 

"Kevin..."  AJ nudged Kevin with his elbow.  "Um, your shoe?"

Kevin leaned over and looked at his shoe, to find that his shoelaces were burning briskly, although flames weren't quite licking at his feet yet.  This was a game that relief pitchers the league over had found entertaining throughout the years.  Pick some innocent sucker and set his shoes on fire without him noticing.

"S---!"  Kevin put out the fire with his other foot, before turning and swinging one arm at AJ, who ducked away, laughing the entire time.  Kevin narrowed his eyes.  AJ had distracted him with the idea of pitching inside.  There was no accounting for the mind of a pitcher.  They were always one step ahead.

"I am the KING!"  AJ announced to the rest of the bullpen, doing a little victory dance atop the bullpen mound.  "And you guys doubted that I could do it!"

"Congratulations."  Brad Arton said solemnly, stepping forward to shake AJ's hand. "You win."

"McLean!"  Bullpen coach Jared Price interrupted from the recessed area that housed the phone. The job of the bullpen coach was to answer the phone - and if a major fire occurred as a result of AJ's cigarette lighter - to put it out.   "You have a phone call."